Persuasion
by Rayne Destiny
Summary: Takes place in 6th year. Instead of Harry finding Malfoy crying in the boys’ bathroom, Hermione does. Will she be what persuades him to change the path that he’s on?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Harry Potter series, this series is the property of JKR and I'm just playing around in the world that she created, and I am not writing this with the intention of making any profit or copyright infringement.

**Persuasion**  
by Rayne Destiny

----------

Things weren't going well for Draco Malfoy at all. How could he possibly go through with such a thing? He entered the bathroom and rested his forehead against the cool surface of the mirror in front of him.

Problem 1: Dumbledore was still alive.

Problem 2: He still hadn't repaired the Vanishing Cabinet to allow the Death Eaters to reach Hogwarts grounds.

And the school year was rapidly coming to a close. If Dumbledore was still alive when the Hogwarts Express pulled back into Platform 9 and 3/4, Draco would fail his mission. The penalty for failure was death.

He didn't want to die.

His heart clenched with both fear and despair. He had been such a fool. He was so caught up in saving the Malfoy name after his father's fall the year before that he didn't realize that he had walked into such an obvious trap. He wasn't meant to succeed, to reclaim the Malfoy former glory. He was meant to fail, to be yet another punishment to soothe the Dark Lord's anger with his father.

What better way to punish someone than by destroying their family – by murdering their only child?

Draco had no intention of failing, but it looked like his failure was preordained. Dumbledore spent more time than ever away from the Hogwarts since the Ministry of Magic chased him away the year before. He hadn't been able to get close to him in public, let alone in private so that he could kill him. He'd ever resorted to roundabout ways of killing the headmaster, ways that met with failure as well. As for the Cabinet, he'd tried every magical repair spell that he could think of, and the thing still remained broken.

Draco closed his eyes as the tears silently coursed down his face and fell into the sink.

"Draco?" Moaning Myrtle asked as she appeared in the bathroom.

---------

Hermione, used to the pressures on her friends to win the final Quidditch game of the season, barely even acknowledged Ron's mad dash to the bathroom as she sat with her two – now one – friend in the Gryffindor common room. "Well, Harry," she said as she picked up her Arithmancy book from the table, "there's nothing that you can do about the game besides your best, so stop worrying about it." She rose from her seat.

Harry got to his feet as well and followed Hermione to the portrait hole. "It's not just the game…" he mumbled under his breath.

Hermione only looked over her shoulder at Harry with the look of speculation that she'd given him so many times lately. "I know," she said, ignoring the look of surprise that appeared on Harry's face when he'd realized that he'd been overheard, and slipped into the hallway. The two of them walked together from the tower, and it was there that Hermione turned to go in a different direction.

"You're not going to dinner?" Harry asked.

"I'll be along later," she replied. "I need to go see Professor Vector. I think I made a mistake on my essay, and I don't want my marks to drop because of it." She didn't see Harry shake his head in her direction as she rushed off. Hermione decided to take a detour instead of her usual route, thinking that it would get her to her destination faster. If it did, she'd be back in the Great Hall all the sooner, joining her friends for dinner. She was passing by the seventh-floor bathrooms, when she heard the muffled voice of a girl speaking. She thought nothing of it until she realized that it was coming from the boys' bathroom instead of the girls'. Hermione knew that she couldn't let that go by unnoticed, especially since she was a prefect and she took her prefect duties seriously.

Hermione wasted no time in pushing open the door, a sharp reprimand sitting on her tongue, just waiting for the opposing party – or parties – to come into view. She all but choked on her words when she saw who she was about to unleash them on.

Draco Malfoy was standing with his back to the door, his hands clutching either side of the sink, his white-blond head bowed.

"Don't," crooned Moaning Myrtle's voice – the same voice that she'd heard earlier, Hermione realized – from one of the cubicles. "Don't… tell me what's wrong… I can help you…"

"No one can help me," said Draco. His whole body was shaking. "I can't do it… I can't… It won't work… and unless I do it soon… he says he'll kill me…" Hermione watched the exchange in shock. In all her time at Hogwarts, she'd never considered Draco as a person that would cry – that could cry. She didn't hate him as much as Harry and Ron did, but she did consider him quite lacking in the emotional department. Shock gave way to embarrassment at witnessing such a private moment, even from the likes of Draco Malfoy. She began to slowly back out of the bathroom door to give him his privacy when he looked up into the cracked mirror hanging above the sink and saw Hermione staring at him over his shoulder.

Malfoy wheeled around, drawing his wand. His hex missed Hermione by inches, shattering the lamp on the wall beside her. Immediately Hermione pulled out her wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" but Malfoy blocked the spell and raised his wand for another—

"No! No! Stop it!" squealed Moaning Myrtle, her voice echoing loudly around the tiled room. "Stop! **Stop!**"

There was a loud bang and the bin behind Hermione exploded; Hermione attempted a full Body Bind Curse that backfired off the wall behind Malfoy's ear and smashed the cistern beneath Moaning Myrtle, who screamed loudly; water poured everywhere and Hermione slipped on the slick floor as Malfoy cried, "Crucio!"

"Prote—" Hermione began, from her place on the floor, but it was too late. Her sudden, tortured screams echoed around the empty bathroom, save for the two that that remained, Moaning Myrtle having vanished immediately after the cistern beneath her had been destroyed.

It took an instant for Draco to realize what he was doing. Horror filled him as he lowered his wand, stopping his Cruciatus Curse. Out of all the people to use an Unforgivable on, he'd used it on Potter's Mudblood Granger. She would no doubt report it to Dumbledore or McGonagall as soon as she left. He had to stop her. If she was successful, he'd be expelled with no chance to complete his mission. And if he didn't complete his mission…

Swallowing his pride, Draco approached the fallen prefect and knelt beside her. "Granger."

Granger silently pinned him with a gaze filled with horror, loathing, and receding pain. As quickly as she was able, she brought her wand up underneath his chin. "Get away from me, you monster," she said in a soft but determined voice.

Draco moved away from her slightly. He had no intentions of moving further than arm's length, in case she decided to suddenly bolt. "You can't tell anyone about this."

"Says who, Malfoy? I'm the one holding the wand now." Granger got to her feet, keeping her wand and eyes trained on him at all times.

"I'll be expelled if you report it to Dumbledore!" Draco exclaimed in rapidly growing desperation. "I can't be expelled!"

"Maybe you should've thought about that before you decided to use an Unforgivable on me. You'll join your father in Azkaban." She made an attempt to smooth her soaked, rumpled robes, but it failed miserably.

"You don't understand!"

"No, **you** don't understand."

It became clear to Draco that he would either have to tell her what was at stake and his mission to persuade her to not report him, or he'd have to force her to be silent. Actually, no matter how he looked at it, he'd have to force her to silent, so he decided to skip the pleading and just go ahead with the latter. At least this way, he still retained a little of his privacy. If he could only distract her long enough to cast a spell…

Just then, the Gryffindor Head of House burst through the door. Granger lowered her wand as Professor McGonagall asked, "What on earth is going on here? Myrtle's screaming all over the school about an attack."

"It was Peeves, Professor." Granger said without hesitation, giving Draco a warning look. "I heard a girl's voice in here and came to investigate. It was only Moaning Myrtle. I started to leave when Peeves started breaking things. Malfoy came in and tried to help me."

Draco schooled his features so that his surprise at Granger's actions wouldn't show. Wasn't she just about to report him? He didn't understand, but was thankful, nonetheless.

Fortunately for Granger, Peeves picked that time to appear. The cracked mirror that Draco had been looking into only moments before, shattered while the ghost cackled with glee.

"**Peeves!**" Professor McGonagall yelled. "You stop that this instant! You two – go on, I'll deal with him," she added as an afterthought as Peeves broke another mirror.

Draco gratefully left Peeves to Professor McGonagall and followed Granger out of the flooded bathroom. He'd barely made it through the door when he saw the prefect striding purposefully down the hall. "Granger," he called after her. She stopped, but didn't look back at him. "I… I appreciate it."

"You owe me, Malfoy. Remember that." Granger turned and walked away, leaving Draco alone in the corridor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Harry Potter series, this series is the property of JKR and I'm just playing around in the world that she created, and I am not writing this with the intention of making any profit or copyright infringement.

**Author Notes:** Special thanks to Eloise for being my beta for this story!

**Persuasion**  
by Rayne Destiny

**Chapter 2**

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Hermione's mind reeled as she walked back to Gryffindor Tower, dripping water as she went. Why did she bail out Malfoy? He'd never given her cause to help him before, especially not after he'd cast an Unforgivable on her. But he'd looked so horrified at what he'd done… was it possible that he hadn't meant to cast it? That, Hermione would have to deliberate a lot longer, after all, it wasn't just an ordinary curse he'd used on her.

Luckily, there was no one in the Common Room after she gave the Fat Lady the password, saving her from having to explain why she was soaking wet. She trudged up the stairs to the girls' dormitory and quickly changed into dry robes. She'd used the time that she'd allotted for seeing Professor Vector with Malfoy. If she wanted dinner, she'd have to wait until later. Great.

When Hermione entered the Great Hall, she saw her friends look at her with concern as she took her usual seat at the table.

"Hermione, is it true that Malfoy attacked you in the bathroom?" Ron asked, still looking a little green around the edges, and also angry enough to hit something.

"What? Where'd you hear that?" Hermione asked.

"Moaning Myrtle. It's all over the school," Harry answered.

Hermione shook her head and reached for some pumpkin juice. "That's not true at all. Peeves started trashing it and Malfoy just happened to come in." She hated lying to her friends this way, but she knew exactly how they'd react if she told them the truth. Plus, she really didn't want to explain her actions when she didn't even understand them herself.

"Oh, well, in that case…" Somewhat relieved, Ron looked over at Malfoy like he wanted to punch him just for being in the same room as Hermione.

Hermione only rolled her eyes. "Ron, let it go. I'm fine."

He soon let it go and joined Harry and Ginny in a discussion about their upcoming match with Ravenclaw, leaving Hermione to her thoughts. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy talking with Crabbe and Goyle. What could possible get under Malfoy's skin so much that he would cry in the bathroom where anyone could walk in on him? After returning most of her attention to her table, Hermione tried to think of what she'd overheard in the hopes that she'd get a clue. Unfortunately, she'd been so surprised to see Malfoy so distraught that it hadn't even occurred to her to eavesdrop on his conversation with Moaning Myrtle. She certainly couldn't remember any of it at the moment.

Hermione jumped as she snapped back to the conversation going on in front of her. "Oh, sorry, I was just thinking."

"Well, that's nothing new," Ginny said with a smile.

Smiling too, Hermione joined her friends' conversation.

* * *

After dinner, Hermione was walking back to Gryffindor Tower with Ron, Ginny, and Harry when she was stopped by a second-year. "I was told to give this to you," the little girl said before handing Hermione a sealed piece of parchment and continuing on her way.

"Who's that from?" Ron asked. Hermione only shrugged before breaking the seal and unrolling the parchment to read it.

_Ms. Granger,_

_I am most apologetic to interfere with your studies, but I must see you at once regarding the bathroom incident. As Harry will tell you, I like Acid Pops._

_**Albus Dumbledore**_

"It's from Dumbledore," she answered after reading over the short summons. "He wants to see me. But what's this about Acid Pops? It's the password, isn't it, Harry?" She looked over at Harry at his nodded in response. She rolled the parchment back up and placed it in her bag. "Well, I'd better get going. I'll see you later." She walked through the corridors until she reached the seventh-floor corridor where a single gargoyle stood against the wall. "Acid Pops," Hermione said, and the gargoyle leapt aside as the wall behind it slid apart and a moving spiral staircase was revealed. She stepped onto the staircase and was carried up to the highly polished oak door with the brass knocker that led to Dumbledore's office. She knocked.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice said through the closed doors.

Hermione pushed open the door and entered the office, looking around the circular room that was lit by candlelight. Unlike Harry, she didn't spend much time in Dumbledore's office, so it was a different experience for her. Portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses dozed in their frames, and spindle-legged tables were filled with delicate-looking silver instruments whirring and puffing smoke. She jolted slightly when she saw Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix watching her with a bright interest from his perch behind the door. Beside Fawkes rested a Pensive.

"Professor?" Hermione asked as she approached his desk, tearing her eyes away from her surroundings and focusing on the man in front of her. "You wanted to see me?"

"I trust that you didn't come to too much harm in today's incident, Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore's eyes shone with a twinkle – much like Fawkes' – that made Hermione feel as if he knew everything that had transpired in the bathroom.

She shook her head. "No, sir, Malfoy came in, and when he did, that distracted Peeves from me."

Dumbledore looked at the girl in front of him with great interest even though he remained outwardly calm. "It is not usually in Mr. Malfoy's interests to help students not of his house."

"No, it's not, Professor."

"It is more likely that Mr. Malfoy persuaded Peeves to attack you so that he could step in and play the hero."

Hermione shook her head. "That's not Malfoy, Professor. I can believe that he persuaded Peeves, but I don't see him wanting to 'play the hero' for anyone, especially not me."

The headmaster stroked his white beard with his uninjured hand. "However, I believe your story, Ms. Granger. The question is: why did he help you?"

"People can change, I suppose – maybe even him, sir."

"Indeed." Dumbledore studied Hermione for a few moments. "Indeed, Ms. Granger. You may return to your studies."

Hermione, slightly nervous from the direction that the line of questioning had taken and from the speculative way that the headmaster had looked her over, was relieved that the visit was over. "Thank you, sir." she said before leaving his office.

After Hermione's departure, Dumbledore lit his pipe, and then settled back into his chair, deep in thought. "Maybe she'll be the one," he said to no one in particular. "He certainly needs someone to take him off that path… I'll give them a little nudge and see what happens…"

* * *

"I agree with Dumbledore; he's up to something."

"Dumbledore didn't say that, Ron," Hermione said as she rolled her eyes from her place across the table from Ron.

Ron simply shrugged her off. "He's thinking it. Why else would he ask you those questions? He's telling you to be careful. Once a git, always a git."

"People change, Ron."

"Not ones like Malfoy."

"Oh yeah?" Hermione countered, "You weren't even there!"

Harry simply watching his friends bicker with one another wearily. He was used to their spats, but what made this one unusual was that it was about how much of a git Malfoy was. "'Mione," he began in a soothing tone, hoping to not get his head bitten off along with Ron's. "Just be careful. After all, it might be part of his Death Eater plans."

Ron and Hermione immediately stopped glaring at one another long enough to exchange a look that said, 'Here we go again.' Before Harry could launch into his tirade of why Malfoy was a Death Eater yet again, Hermione said, "Let's just drop it, shall we? It's not as if I'll be near him again anytime soon. Now, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning." She left the Common Room and headed up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, not knowing that Harry and Ron stared after her with slight concern.

In bed, Hermione stared up at the canopy of her bed. What was she doing? In the course of one day, she'd lied to Professor McGonagall, her friends, and the headmaster. On top of that, she'd verbally defended Malfoy against Ron. Did she honestly think that he'd changed just because she'd discovered that Malfoy possessed a larger scope of emotion that previously believed? No, she didn't. But Hermione did think that her perception of him had changed. She now knew that he was a human being, capable of emotions that quite obviously, he'd kept hidden. She almost wished that she could sate her curiosity and find out the reasons behind his emotions.

Almost.

Hermione was sure that whatever it was that had Draco Malfoy seeking comfort in Moaning Myrtle was something she didn't want to know. Calming her mind with that though, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

As one mind slept, another lay awake.

_What was with Granger? Why did she help me?_ Draco thought to himself. No one had ever done such a thing for him, except for his parents. He knew that he hadn't deserved her help for all the years he'd tortured her, Potty and Weasel.

"_You owe me, Malfoy. Remember that."_

And contrary to popular belief, this wasn't about to make him change his ways now and start being nice to the so called Golden Trio. Did she help him just because she wanted something from him? He dismissed the thought. That was more down Pansy's alley than it was Granger's. Was the Gryffindor Princess into blackmail? Draco dismissed that idea as well. _Granger's too goody-goody to even consider blackmail; she's always trying to do the 'right' thing_.

And he'd thanked her too. Imagine! A Pureblood like him actually acknowledging that he was in debt to a Mudblood like her. He should've just let the girl walk away without saying a thing to her.

'_But knowing that you'd live another day makes a guy pretty thankful_,' a voice inside his head said. '_No matter what their blood status is._'

Draco scowled and tried to fall asleep. The voice might have been right, but that didn't mean he had to admit it.


End file.
